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Friday, November 21, 2008

She Wolf4 - Incongruous

Julietta Lightbarer
By Tina c.

A raindrop splattered wetness on the tip of her freckled nose. Minutes before, the gray skies had been dry of heaven’s tears. A brisk current of air blew through cracks in the plaster wall, lifting up the red fur on her feet. She shivered and hugged her knees closer.

Julietta Lightbarer sat huddled on the mold-invested floor of her apartment room. The thirty year old felt real fear claw at her inside as she whimpered away the dark hole in her heart.

It had been years since she had last felt safe.

A lady centuries before, loved and adored, now only a barely perceivable remnant of that glorious past. Human change was kind to none, her least of all. Julietta took a shuddering breath of icy air. Tomorrow seemed so far away. Too late in coming.

A light at the end of an eternity of tunnel travel, she felt its presence. Unhelpful and useless as the metaphorical light was truly, it gave her hope.

Julietta Lightbarer felt the end would never come for her, she was destined to live a life made horrible and filled a despair that she dreaded. Royalty meant nothing in this new age of computers and accountants, teen punks and television. Her wide eyes stared unseeing at a world that gave way to chaos.

****

Seth ran a paw through his thick, red facial hair. He twirled his finger around the ends. He remembered the morning Julietta Lightbarer had met him on that lonely street corner. Violet and Pine. Twenty long years and three states later he could still remember the intersection where she had stolen his heart. His nose wrinkled at the phantom smell of sewage and old fruit. A grin softened his often grim expression.

Julietta had been a lovely creature. A human with the ability to perceive the paranormal bitten at a young age and changed into something majestic. The werewolf sighed heavily. Perhaps it was this reason alone that compelled him to harbor the vampire, Jade Suon. She had been human not so long ago and a highly empathic human at that. Seth could see so much of Julietta in the quiet, non-assuming Jade Suon. Her Asian eyes sparkling with the same vigor for life and beauty and acceptance.

A knock on the door stirred the werewolf from his musings. He placed the sweet memories back in their little spot at the back of his mind where he could always reach them to mull over when the mood to do so assailed him. He smiled a bittersweet smile.

****

Jade Suon stood on the other side of Seth’s door, her palm resting flat across the dark, aged wood. She listened with the ears that so recently had been made super-human. Paranormal abilities were only the beginning of the change that had taken over her body and soul.

“Come in.” Seth’s voice invited, there was a melancholy air to the tone. “It is open.”

Jade turned the brass knob, it’s shiny countenance out of sync with the old buildings rusty interior. She had puzzled over the new plumbing as well, but left the questions unasked. A simple shrug was enough to pass over these trite details.

She stepped into the small quarters and spied the werewolf sitting on the edge of his bed. A blush made it’s way up her neck, she twisted his sleeves in her hands, suddenly nervous.

“If I am interrupting your prayers I can come back.”

Seth chuckled, a bright smile lighting up his red eyes. True humor entered his voice. “Nonsense, child. I was merely thinking. You are always welcomed.” He motioned towards the chair opposite him, where it had been placed next to the wall of fading red paper. “Now, tell me what has been bothering you.”

Jade took the offered seat, she ran her sweaty, shaking palms across her jeans trying to calm her speeding heart. This would be more difficult than she had first though, but, of course, she could count on Seth not to judge her. Seth never judged.

“I’ve been thinking about blood lately. . .A lot and it is starting to really scare me.” Her wide eyes locked with his knowing gaze. “I’m worried.”

A sad frown met her concerned one. “I would be upset if that did not worry you. The fact that you are aware of what you are feeling and are still able to curb these impulses leads me to believe that you are not going to play out your worst fears.”

“But what if I can’t stop myself? I’ve heard the stories of vampires unable to control their urges. Especially if they are already hungry.”

This grabbed Seth’s attention. He studied her intently with his glowing red eyes.

“Have you not been feeding? Is the chicken’s blood not enough.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t that. I just. The whole thing disgusts me. I’ve been having a really hard time keeping it down.”

“Ah. I am sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve tried.” Desperation leaked into her confession. “I’ve tried telling myself that it is just incredibly gross warm milk. I’ve tried thinking of it as tomato juice…Nothing has worked so far. I’m starting to feel….hungry.”

“That is regrettable.”

****

Trevor Snow looked out the small, barred window of his room. It felt like a cozy cell. There was everything that he needed - or wanted - to survive, but he was still a prisoner. The outside world inaccessible while he stayed in the protective custody of the monastery.

Seth had introduced him to a few of the others that lived in this new world. An underground brotherhood of the unusual. Paranormal, supernatural and just plain strange were all patrons of this religious sanctuary. Trevor felt both blessed to have been found by the monk and distressed that he was forced into the life of a freak.

His parents were out there somewhere, no doubt devastated by his death. Trevor would give anything for a chance to see them one more time. To hug them close and tell them that he would be alright, that everything would be alright. It tore him up inside that he could not even give them that little bit of closure. Tears pricked his eyes painfully and he ran a hand over his face. He had spent a lot of time thinking about where his life was headed and the answer had still not presented itself to his internal debates.

Whether he was now meant to go on in this world as a strange creature of the dark, feared and shunned or not was still for him to determine. Seth had been a great help. The large werewolf had been there to talk to and he had given sound advice to Trevor, for that the boy would forever be grateful. Whatever he decided, his new life would be thanks to that kind werewolf. A bit of a contradiction, but a reassuring one as Trevor knew that someday in the near future he would also be a contradiction. It was his hope, his redemption and all he had left to do was figure out how to make it real.

Trevor stared up into the blue open sky and tried harder to close the gap between what he wanted to become and what he had become. A gray area that he knew Seth would help him through.

****

Tamlina Gray sat on the floor of her room, her eyes stared unseeing at the uncarpeted, cold cement. She could hear her little brother’s screams and she could see the terror in her mother’s eyes. It was a bad nightmare that played over and over and refused to let up for even an hour.

Dark circled colored her eyes and she ran a hand through her knotted hair. It had been days since she had thought of eating. Pale skin pulled taunt over her muscles. She had never been capable of keeping on a few extra pounds, something her mother had always been on her case about. A tiny sob escaped and she hugged her knees to her chest, her brow furrowing in deep distress. Another sob shook her shoulders.

This was just too much to take. Knowing that her family’s bodies were located just blocks away under six feet of clay and dirt. Tears sprinkled her bare arms as she tried to hold back the scream of anguish that was building up inside of her heart. It all hurt so badly.

She may have killed the vampire who had murdered her entire family, but Tamlina was far from finished with her thirst for revenge. Angry eyes stared unseeing as pain forced it’s way through her body and mind.

****

Seth watched Jade closely. The last thing that he wanted to do was introduce a danger to his children or those fragile creatures under his protection. He had safety rooms where he could put Jade until the hunger passed or until she could come to realize that drinking animal blood was a way of life for her now. It was not a disgusting thing, it was a life giving ritual and until he could convince the woman of this he would have to make sure that she did not endanger herself or those that called the monastery home.

“Jade.” He started softly, imploringly. “You know that I want to help you, but I need you to want this to happen. You have to accept that what has happened to you is not just a bad thing. Vampires have been painted with a bloody brush of misunderstandings and ignorance. I think that there is much more individuality to vampires than the legends would imply. Are you willing to put the stereotype to the test?”

Jade smiled through pooling tears. “I’ve already put it to the test.” She wiped at her eyes delicately. “I understand what you are saying and the answer is ‘yes’. I am not going to let this thing beat me.”

“It is more than that, Jade. You have to accept that this is not going to go away and it is who you are now. I’m sorry that this has happened to you, but it has so you have to deal with it. Not as we wish it were, but as it is.”

“What does that even mean?” Jade asked, her voice raising.

“You have to be willing to let yourself change into something…it will be up to you what that something is.”

“English!”

Seth sighed heavily. “Like it or not, you are no longer human and you need to start treating your body that way. You need to change the way that you think. It will be difficult, I won’t lie to you, but I know that it is possible to guide your new powers and senses. I am living proof of that. You do not need to be a monster, Jade, but you are not human anymore and you have got to accept that.”

“I can accept that. I’ve had to!” Jade argued, her voice growing angered.

“On an intellectual level perhaps, but this goes so much deeper than that. Your heart has to accept the fact that you are a vampire.”

Jade flinched at the name. A single, salty tear smeared her dark mascara sending a dark trail down her cheek. Seth felt badly for the woman and for the things that he was being forced to say to her, but he also knew that tough love was sometimes the only option available. He reached across the distance separating them and laid a hand on her knee.

“I will be here to help you through this. You will get through this.” He promised solemnly.

“I’m not so sure. This hunger. It’s so strong sometimes and I cannot control it.”

“You can, you have. How do you think you have made it through the common rooms up to my quarters without anyone losing their lives. I know that you passed the infirmary. I know that you smelled the blood. I also know that you are sitting before me scared and every bit as innocent as you were the day your grandmother sent you to me.”

The shaking grew and soon Jade was engulfed in a hug of self-loathing. She felt her body spasm and after a moment realized that she was trying ineffectually to cry tears of regret. One moment. It had taken one moment for her to lose her life and gain a new curse.

“I never wanted this.” She admitted to the world, losing site of the fact that she was not alone. Her eyes grew distant and clouded. “I never wanted this at all. I saved that woman from the vampire…I thought it was the right thing - the only thing that I could have done, but I’m not so sure now. I just don’t know. What if I could have avoided all of this?” She questioned.

“Whether your choice was right or wrong. It was made. Now we need to deal with what is facing us, not what could have been.” Seth replied softly. “I am so sorry for your loss, Jade, but we need you to move forward.”

****

Trevor itched for a chance to go outside and experience the life of a young adult he had been deprived of at the whim of a dark creature. He took a deep breath and made his way to the door of his room, his cell, reaching down he turned the knob.

The hallway outside was dark, cobwebs clinging to the corners of the ceiling, the wallpaper peeling. He wondered who had chosen what must have once been a very cheery, floral pattern. Somehow he could not see Seth choosing such a decorative wallpaper. With a shrug, Trevor dismissed the detail and continued on his trek through the mansion. He had not been given a very liberal tour and now thought that his time could best be spent discovering exactly where it was he had agreed to live. A smile of curiosity stole over his features.

He was reminded of the summer his freshman year when he and a group of five friends had decided to break into the local ‘haunted’ house on Halloween. He frowned suddenly at the thought that maybe their fun-filled quest to find a ‘ghost’ might have ended in true disaster that night. A shudder ran up his spine.

****

Julietta sniffled a bit, her dark nose twitching at the phantom sneeze that wanted to manifest. She fought the urge, tired of all the allergies she had built up over the year of living in that broken down place she called home. The rent was cheap so she was able to keep it otherwise she would be forced to take to the street. Others life her were luckier, they could get jobs in the defense industry, but she refused to hurt anymore than she already had and so she had tried her hand…her paws at other careers, but it was hard for a furry, tall, obviously non-human to find employment through regular channels. She knew a few kind people who took in charity supernatural cases and they had graciously agreed to pay rent for the building. Another sniffle broke the chilled silence of the room. Julietta hugged herself closer, her long floral print dress scratching against her long, red fur.

A growl of disgust rumbled through her chest. She was sick of living through the same day of nothing.

****

Daniel H. Harris looked the building over cautiously. He would have written it off as an abandoned monastery if he had not seen the werewolf and vampire enter it. Days before he had been checking up on the vampire Trevor Snow and he had arrived just in time to see the young creature escorted to the building of worship by an old, fierce-looking werewolf. The thirty year old man ran a hand through his spiked red hair, the gel sticking to his fingertips.

He would need to tell the others and see what the leaders wanted him to do, until they replied he would keep away so as not to raise any suspicions. This could mean great new allies for the cause or a possible fracture in their plan to Reform the way the world dealt with abnormal beings. Daniel reached into his pocket, felt around for a moment and frowned. He had left the device at home. A sigh escaped from between his lips and with an eye roll at his own lack of foresight, he turned on his heel and began the long trudge homeward.

****

All those long years ago Julietta had looked out her window, eyes shadowed with a deep sadness, and she had seen a form walking down the street, it’s back to her view. She had pushed her shuddering body to a standing position. She had ran for the door, sprinting down the single flight of stairs that lead to the ground level. The young woman had been out the door and down the rain drenched sidewalk in moments, her strangled voice yelling after the form.

“Wait!”

Seth had turned to face her, his red eyes glowing with curiosity and alarm.

“Wait!”

The woman had met up with him at the intersection, at the edge of the broken sidewalk. She had looked at him with a mixture of awe and hope. Twenty years later she would still look at him with that strange mixture that had turned her world upside down in the course of one wary glance into the world.

****

Seth let Jade leave his quarters. He knew that she would need as much support as he and the others could offer her, but he also knew that ultimately the choice to change and become something different rested entirely on her shoulders. If she did not want to take up the strange path that had lead her to this new life then nothing he said could change that. She would have to make up her own mind. Until then he would be there to help show her the way. A light in the darkness of uncertainty.

Once alone again, he looked over at the dresser set against the far wall. He could see Julietta’s picture there, her glowing smile warming him as he felt her hands on his arm. Even though she was dead he could still feel the presence of her soul. It’s kindness and forgiveness and caring saturated everything in the monastery. His eyes closed and he let his hands fall open, an invitation to her lingering form.

“I love you, Julietta Lightbarer.” He spoke softly, his voice a deep purr. “Then, now and forever.”

****

Trevor saw a half-open door just off the hall he had been following for some time. His curiosity aroused, the young vampire walked towards it. Peeking inside he saw nothing at first and then a small keen drew his attention to the form pressed against the wall, shivering.

He pushed the door open a little more. There was a young woman sobbing on the floor, he took a small step into the room.

“Excuse me, are you alright?” He asked hesitantly.

She glanced up, wiping at her eyes in embarrassment. “No. I’m fine.”

Trevor smiled uncertainly. “You don’t look fine. I can get Seth if you need -.”

“No!” She said more forcefully. “I’m fine. Just…I just.” Her tears began anew, cascading down her face in a river of pain and despair. “I just lost my family.”

Trevor felt a pang of empathy. He took another step forward, his voice lowering. “I know how you feel.” He told her honestly. “I lost my family too.”

“I’m sorry.” She said through a sniffle. “How did they die.”

Trevor wanted to lean down and wipe her tears away, his heart breaking at the sight of her grief.

“They didn’t die.” He explained. “I did.”

Her gasp of surprised had been expected but when she drew away, her eyes going wide with rage, Trevor felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She meant to murder him, he could see it in her eyes. He turned and ran, his footsteps echoing loudly off the walls of the hallway.

“Seth!”

“Seth!”

He heard her scream seconds after his own cry for help, but she sounded like a warrior calling for backup. Trevor used all the super-human powers at his control to remain mere steps in front of the young woman. She was much faster than she looked. Panting, Trevor ran for his life.

****

Seth met the two youngsters at an intersection of the hallway. He grabbed them each by the arm, holding them still with an iron grip. Both tried to pull away, Trevor out of fear and Tamlina out of pure hatred. Seth felt sympathy for them both. This was not going to be an easy introduction. He would have liked to have kept them separated during their stay.

“You should have asked for a guided tour if you wished to check out the premises.” Seth told Trevor with a small shake of his head. “I would have referred you and she not to have met under such conditions.”

“So, you knew he was here! Him! A vampire!” Tamlina’s face turned a light shade of red, she glared angrily at the werewolf. “I thought you were looking out for me.”

“I am, young one.” Seth replied softly. He sighed. “Trevor is not your typical vampire.”

“So, he doesn’t drink blood? He doesn’t kill innocent people!” She directed the last at Trevor with venom in her voice.

“No. Not anymore.” Seth said.

“Anymore? What, is this some kind of joke?” Tamlina mocked.

“No.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Trevor spoke up for the first time, defending himself. “I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

Tamlina ground her teeth together to control herself. “Yeah? Says you!”

“I’m sorry. Okay. I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”

Tamlina refused to hear the contrition and self-loathing on those honest words. All she allowed herself to hear was the lies of a hostile vampire.

“I can’t stay here. Not with that.” She spat on Trevor’s sleeve.

****

Seth knew that it would take a lot of work to get those two understanding each other, but he also knew that in order for them to survive the coming months in the isolated company of the monastery, they would need to learn to work together and fast. They had to at least be able to tolerate the each other in order to survive in the isolated monastery lifestyle.

2 comments:

TLC's said...

I enjoyed the story. Keep up the good work. I see you are working very dilegently on a story that needs to be done soon! I hope you make it. Is it a story I would like to ready? If so send me to the site or send me a copy of the story. Tomorrow is the big day!!! Hot Shot will go to a new home. Have a Great Weekend!

Ebbtide said...

THIS is THE STORY. :D

;). Thank you, for commenting. I'm glad that you like it!!